On a recent trip to the UK my wife and I hired a car for 42 days from Europcar. First problem, on offering us an upgrade to diesel vehicle, I asked whether diesel was cheaper than petrol in the UK, and was told it was. It isn't. The car was great, but their communication skills, well......Got an email requesting the car be returned to Manchester to be exchanged.Apparently it was to be sold. Trouble was we were on the \Isle of Harris, two days travel away two days before Christmas. I emailed immediately but received no reply. We returned to new Zealand after our trip, and a week later received a parking infringement notice in the mail. Trouble was, the infringement notice was for Bristol, we were 450 miles away in Fort William and the number plate was different. The company had the parking ticket for a month before sending it to us. I emailed immediately that it was either a mistake at best or fraud at worst and received no reply. The only response was to remove the fine amount from my credit card. I emailed again, furious. No response. I phoned the office in Leicester (an expensive exercise from here) and was given the runaround. I finally got an email after having disputed the payment with the bank, acknowledging a mistake and promising to refund. We were refunded eventually but they now have located another 'mistake' and would like me to pay more, by phoning them and presumably giving them my credit card details, and paying the call cost for the privilege. Do these people know what customer service/satisfaction means?
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9363 posts
Sorry, but I'm confused. You got a parking ticket that apparently wasn't yours, but when you emailed they removed the fine from your credit card? So why did you email again, "furious"? What were you refunded for if the charge was already removed? What was the outcome of needing to take the car to Manchester? And if they fixed the problem, how were you "shafted"?
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Nancy, firstly, there's no 'apparently' about it. They were informed in detail of the 'mistake' and supplied with the evidence, but chose to take the money anyway. In my book that is being shafted. I was only contacted AFTER I had the bank stop the payment. The problem is still not fixed, as you state. If I were in senior management at this company I'd be appalled at the treatment of one of my company's customers. The issue primarily stems from a lack of communication on the part of their 'customer service' team. I would have been happy to hear, indeed would love to hear from someone to sort this out, but they have thus far chosen not to.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32704 posts
I understand the upset, and the frustration.
What I don't understand is the concern about the expensiveness of the telephone calls.
These days we have Skype and other VOIP providers easily used on smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc., as long as you can find a source of wifi.
I put in €10 of Skype credit once in a blue moon and call Europe and North America fairly often and only rarely have to top up. The apps and programs are free.
Toll free calls to North America are free with Skype.
I don't know (because I use my landline or mobile here in the UK) if Skype calls tollfree UK numbers for free.....
In any event, you should be able to become more comfortable with making international calls...
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5326 posts
Yes a phone call from New Zealand to the UK need not cost more than a few cents per minute, plus maybe an access charge.
Diesel currently is about 2p cheaper per litre than petrol in the UK, although it often is the other way about.
Posted by
OP
6 posts
This thread has gotten sidetracked on to phone call costs. The issue is the ability of car rental companies to remove funds from a customer's credit card account. If a customer disputes the charge, or in this case 'fine' from a third party, they should have the decency to check the facts before abusing the trust the customer has placed in that company by submitting their financial details. The company cited time differences as an excuse for not contacting me to avoid the foul-up even though I supplied suitable times (business hours) and they could have found that out easily anyway.
Not a great believer in coincidence, I received an email this morning NZT (still no phone call) from the company apologising for the stuff-up. Somebody from Europcar is reading this. Great. Hopefully they take my comments on board about how to avoid this kind of thing. If there are no replies to this post from others being 'shafted by europcar' then that's great, its an isolated case.They dropped the ball and they can easily pick it up again. And if I can be assured that they have indeed got their act together, I will consider hiring from them again. The car, location and value were brilliant.
Recommended course of action: Get rental car company to sign YOUR contract, stating they will first consult with you before removing funds from your credit card on behalf of a third party. Actually, the third party IS a third party.....so is that a sixth party???
Posted by
206 posts
We were stuffed around by Europcar in both Italy and France. I have used them dozens of times at home (Australia) with no complaint but in Europe they were horrible. Only got refunded overcharges amounts with a call to Autoeurope who we booked though. We went though Avis in England and they were pretty good.